Billie Joe Armstrong

Billie Joe Armstrong

Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972, in Oakland, California) is the lead vocalist, main lyricist, and guitarist for the punk rock trio Green Day. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder and sings for garage rock band Foxboro Hot Tubs. He was the lead singer for New Wave group The Network.

Early life

Billie Joe Armstrong was born and grew up in Rodeo, CA, the youngest of six. His father, Andy Armstrong, was a jazz drummer and truck driver for Safeway to support the family. He died of cancer on September 15, 1982 when Armstrong was 10. The song "Wake Me Up When September Ends", is a memorial to his father. His mother Ollie worked at Rod's Hickory Pit, where Armstrong and Mike Dirnt got their first gig during their early years.

Armstrong's interest in music started at a young age. He attended Hillcrest Elementary School, where a teacher encouraged him to record a song titled "Look For Love" at the age of five on the Bay Area label "Fiat Records". After his father died, his mother married a man that her children despised, which made Armstrong retreat further into music. At Carquinez Middle School, he met Mike Dirnt, and they immediately bonded over their passion for music. As a teenager he originally was into metal music, but got into punk after hearing the Sex Pistols song "Holidays in the Sun". Armstrong has also cited The Replacements and Hüsker Dü, both from Minneapolis, as major influences. He attended John Swett High School, and then Pinole Valley High School, dropping out on February 16, 1990, a day before his 18th birthday, to pursue his musical career.

Career

In 1987, Armstrong formed a band called "Sweet Children" with childhood friend Mike Dirnt at the age of 15. In the beginning, Dirnt and Armstrong were both on guitar, with Teodor Boskov on drums, and a man called Sean Hughes on bass. After a few gigs and a demo recording (later featured at the end of Green Day's Oh Shit!) He and Mike Dirnt decided to join up with drummer Al Sobrante in 1988. At the same time Dirnt switched to bass and they became a 3-piece band. They changed their name to Green Day in April 1989, allegedly choosing the name for their fondness of marijuana. That same year they recorded the EPs 39/Smooth, 1,000 Hours, and Slappy, later combined into the LP 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, on Lookout! Records. Tré Cool eventually replaced Sobrante in late 1990 when he left Green Day in order to go to college. California Punk band Rancid's lead singer Tim Armstrong asked Armstrong to join Rancid, but he refused due to the progress with Green Day. Tré Cool made his debut on Green Day's second album, Kerplunk!. With their next album, Dookie (1994), the band broke through into the mainstream, and have remained one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s and 2000s with over 60 million records sold worldwide.

Apart from working with Green Day and side-band Pinhead Gunpowder, Armstrong has proved himself busy in the music world, collaborating with many artists over the years. He has co-written for The Go-Go's ("Unforgiven") and former Avengers singer Penelope Houston ("The Angel and The Jerk" and "New Day"), co-written a song with Rancid ("Radio"), and sung backing vocals with Melissa Auf der Maur on Ryan Adams' "Do Miss America" (where they acted as the backing band for Iggy Pop on his Skull Ring album ("Private Hell" and "Supermarket")). Armstrong has produced an album for The Riverdales, and is also rumored to be part of a side project called The Network. The Network released an album called Money Money 2020. Many Green Day fans who listened to the record remarked the similarity between the two bands. Money Money 2020 was released on Adeline Records, a record label co-owned by Armstrong.

Equipment

Armstrong received his first electric guitar, a Fernandes Stratocaster copy that he named "Blue", when he was eleven. Armstrong said he was surprised when his mother bought the guitar from Armstrong's teacher, George Cole, from band Break Neck Beach, because he knew their family could not readily afford it. He initially installed a Bill Lawrence pickup but later switched to the Duncan JB model. He toured with this guitar from the band's early days and into their first few major-label tours. "Blue" also appears in several of their music videos starting with "Longview", "Basket Case", " Brain Stew/Jaded", and appearing most recently in "Minority". Armstrong has made several replicas of this guitar and uses them at concerts, as the original Blue was damaged during a concert, and is too fragile to tour with today. Blue is supposedly still used for recording, but the large crack in the body makes it dangerous to use on stage; it might become too irreparably damaged to use. Copies of Blue have been in use since at least 1997 or 1998. He also owns several Gibson SGs.

Today Armstrong mainly uses Gibson and Fender guitars. Twenty of his Gibson guitars are Les Paul Junior models from the mid- to late-1950s. His Fender collection includes: Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Telecaster, a Gretsch hollowbody and his copies of "Blue". He states that his favorite guitar is a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior he calls "Floyd". He bought this guitar in 2000 just before recording their album Warning.

Armstrong also has his own line of Les Paul Junior guitars from Gibson. He also uses his signature line now in many of his tours today.

Personal life

In 1990, Armstrong met Adrienne Nesser, whom he married on July 2, 1994. The day after their wedding, Adrienne discovered she was pregnant. Their first child, Joseph 'Joey' Marciano Armstrong, was born on February 28, 1995. Their second child, Jakob Danger Armstrong, was born on September 12, 1998. Adrienne is the co-owner of Adeline Records, along with Armstrong.

Armstrong has identified himself as bisexual, saying in a 1995 interview with The Advocate, "I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in. I think people are born bisexual, and it's just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of 'Oh, I can't.' They say it's taboo. It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing."

File:Billie joe mugshot.jpg

Armstrong after his arrest in January 2003

Armstrong was arrested by Berkeley police in January 2003 for drunk driving after being pulled over for speeding. He received a Breathalyzer reading of 0.18, more than twice the California legal limit of 0.08. In April 2007, Armstrong and his wife sent photos of their spring break working with Habitat For Humanity and a diary to GreenDay.net.

Billie Joe Armstrong supports Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential election.

Awards

• Grammy for Best Rock Album for American Idiot - February 2005
• Grammy for Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - February 2006
• Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance for Dookie - February 1995
• Won MTV VMA Moonmen for Boulevard of Broken Dreams and 1 for American Idiot - August 2005
• Won ASCAP Honor Awards for Creative Voice and Song of the Year ("Boulevard of Broken Dreams") - May 2006
• Won MTV Europe Awards for Best Album and Best Rock Group - November 2005
• Won the Jason Constable award for best punk/rock of the year April 2008

Discography

Green Day

• 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours (1990) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar
• Kerplunk! (1992) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Drums on "Dominated Love Slave"
• Dookie (1994) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Percussion on "All By Myself (hidden track)"
• Insomniac (1995) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar
• Nimrod (1997) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica on "King for a Day"
• Warning (2000) -- Lead Vocals, mandolin, Guitar, Harmonica on "Minority"
• Shenanigans (2002) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
• American Idiot (2004) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica

Pinhead Gunpowder

Vocals and Guitar on all

• Fahiza EP (1992)
• Jump Salty (1995)
• Carry The Banner (1995)
• Goodbye Ellston Avenue (1997)
• Shoot the Moon EP (1999)
• 8 Chords, 328 Words EP (2000)
• Compulsive Disclosure (2003)

The Network

• Money Money 2020 (2003) -- Lead Vocals, Guitar

Foxboro Hot Tubs

• Stop Drop and Roll (2008) -- Lead Vocals

Adelleda

• A Reasonable Explanation For Life (2008) -- Producer

Black Fork

• Rock For Loot (1997) -- Producer

The Riverdales

• The Riverdales (1995) -- Producer

External links

• Green Day Official Website
• Green Day Idiot Club
• Billie Joe Biography, as well as information on his stint in Common Rider
• Billie Joe Armstrong at IMDb
• Billie Joe Armstrong Signature Les Paul Junior